According to recent studies, 1 percent of female adolescents, ages 10 to 20, have an eating disorder called anorexia nervosa. This disease is defines as an emotional illness in which a person refuses to eat. The word “anorexia” literally means without appetite, however, the affected people are much more extreme than that. These people perceive themselves as fat, even though more often than not they are at their correct weight, according to height, and so

Researchers have found that exposure to idealized body images lowers women’s satisfaction with their own attractiveness/appearance, because they frequently compare their bodies to those of the people around them. A 1996 study done by the International Journal of Eating Disorders found that the amount of time an adolescent watches soaps, movies, and music videos directly correlates with their degree of body dissatisfaction and their desire to be thin. In another study, people that were shown slides of thin models had lower self-evaluation scores than people who had been shown slides of average and oversized women. In a “Body Image Survey”, girls reported that the “very thin” models depicted in advertisements make them feel more insecure about themselves. In addition, 68 percent of undergraduate and graduate students at Stanford University felt that their physical appearance was worse after looking through women’s magazines. Out of people classified with “normal” weights, 75 percent of them viewed themselves as being over weight and 90 percent of women overestimate their body size. Health professionals are concerned with this prevalence of distorted body images among women. This constant feeling of inferiority can be fostered by their constant self-comparison to extremely thin figures in the media, and can lead to eating disorders.

metimes even under average. To loose weight they will take on a variety of unhealthy habits. For example, some affected people might skip meals, lower their food intake, move food around plate/play with food as opposed to eating it, refuse to eat with family or around other people, and exercise excessively. The physical abuse that they undergo is extreme. They might experience irregular or stopped menstrual cycles (girls only), have low breathing rates, blood pressure rates, and pulses, have nails and hair that becomes brittle, gain dry, yellow skin called lanugo, have excessive thirst and frequent urination, slowed thyroid activity, dehydration, constipation, lower body temperature, cold intolerance, mild anemia, swollen joints, reduced muscle mass, light-headedness, brittle bones, and irregular heart rhythms that can lead to hear failure. Psychologically, these people might experience changes in personality making them angry, hostile or socially withdrawn. The affected people isolate themselves from their families and friends, are unaware of their condition, and consider the problem as other people’s faults, not their own. Furthermore, they may obtain clinical depression, anxiety, personality disorders, substance abuse, or obsessive-compulsive disorders. And as if these symptoms were not dangerous enough on their own, some anorexic people have thoughts of suicide.

While the majority of people affected with eating disorders are teenage females, studies have indicated that the numbers of males is rising. It is also presumed that all of the cases that males posses may not be reported because some men are reluctant to admit to having a disorder that is primarily associated with females. They may see it as a sign that they are less masculine, which is another fault of our society. Furthermore, some males turn to smoking to help the lose weight. Boys ages 9-14 who thought that they were overweight were 65 percent more like

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